Nail Catch-up #1

Wow I have never fallen this far behind on posting nail photos! Sorry for the quick post. I got a lot of great new nailpolishes over the holiday season. I got some for my birthday, bought some for myself, and even got a whole new box for Christmas. But before I dig into them I really want to get caught up on all the photos I have saved on my computer and my phone. So here they are! Enjoy!

 

 

Pink Purple Gradient

I put on this design a week ago today, and they're still looking really good. Must be the high-quality nail polishes. :) I've gotten a lot of compliments on these over the last week. Feels pretty good!

Ingredients:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Sephora by OPI "Lost Without my GPS"
Finger Paints "It's an Original!"
Nicole by OPI "Razzle Dazzler" (black tips)
Konad Black
Konad Plate m79
Sally Girl 812031
Seche Vite Top Coat

End of April Nails

Check that out, I actually posted a set of nails that I'm currently wearing instead of a "quick update" of nails I forgot to upload. Had a lot of fun with this one, and really happy with how it turned out.

Ingredients:
Seche Clear Base Coat
ORLY 40638 "Green with Envy": 2-3 coats
ORLY 40667 "Green Apple": 2-3 coats
Migi Nails Pen and brush: black for lines, blue for color blocking
Seche Vite Top Coat

Watch out if you try it yourself -- Seche Vite DOES streak the Migi Nail polish. So brush fast and get good coverage the first time!

Inspired by "Nailed It"

On Friday April 13th (dun dun dun) I saw a nail post from BlogNailedIt on Facebook and loved the photo so much I decided to try copying it. I didn't have either one of the nail polishes used in the original so I made up my own. Here's the original photo.

Ingredients:
1. OPI "My Private Jet" -- 2 coats
2. China Glaze Crackle "Oxidized Aqua" -- 1 coat
3. A glitter glue stick from the dollar store for the gold sprinkles
4. Sally Girl "812031" for the silver sprinkles -- 2 coats

That crackle sucks, but it was the closest in color that I could get to the photo -- which apparently isn't a blue color at all, now that I've researched the two polishes that were used. I like these nails, though. I'll wear them for a while.

2012 Nail recap!

Sorry for the lack of posts this year. I've been doing my nails but not posting them regularly, so here's my cheater catch-up batch of nails that I've done. Keep in mind these are over the last few months, so I'm trying my best to remember what I used but can't really guarantee my accuracy!

January 20, 2012:

Just a quick one, using striping brushes.  SEPHORA by O.P.I in "212-SEPHORA"

I didn't actually intend for this one to come out so abstract, but I got to this mid-way through and  ended up liking the random corner paint job. Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in "Pink Chrome" ($1.00 at Dollar tree!)  covered with OPI in "Ski Teal We Drop" (which I love love love)

This one is by far one of my most favorite nail sets I've ever done, because it's so busy-looking. Huge combination of different colors, including (but probably not limited to, since I'm having some trouble remembering after two months) Black undercoat, China Glaze "Cracked Medallion," Art Club black striping polish, Konad plate m64 with Konad White polish, plus some random rhinestones I had in my nailpolish box. So much fun!

My first gradient! I loved these nails, they were so pretty and they lasted a long time, too. :) Colors included:  China Glaze "718 Watermelon Rind," Orly "Green with Envy," OPI "Ski Teal We Drop," Savvy "Totally Teal" (on sale at Sally's for 1.99! Yay!) and Nicole by OPI "It's up to you." 

Migi Nails Take #1

Sorry for the lack of details. These are old designs that I never got around to posting and so I don't remember much about how many coats, drying time, application, etc. Enjoy the pictures! (P.S. the design is based on one of the designs on the back of the Migi Nail Kit box)

County Fair Nail Polish -- Migi Nails!

I went to a neighboring county fair with my dad and brother at the beginning of this month. Didn't plan on buying anything, but I walked through the expo hall and there was this woman selling these nail art pens. She saw me looking and asked if I wanted a nail design, so I went ahead and let her. I happened to have plain nails on, so she had no idea what kind of nail addict I actually am. Anyway, she drew some cute flowers on my right ring finger just by doing some simple dots, and then a "french tip" on my pinky. Not a big fam of the french tip (mostly because I always fake like my tip are longer than they naturally are) but I really liked the pens. Plus they came with a lifetime refill offer, so how can you pass that up?

So here's the set I got. I had to ask her which one is the most popular because I really couldn't decide, and she recommended the basic set that has all the colors plus black and white. They were also selling the extra pens with glow-in-the-dark polish and clearcoat/rhinestones, normally $10 each but on sale for 2 for $10. So It was a total of $35 for everything.

Still getting the hang of it. It's REALLY tough for my left hand to hold the pen steady, but I'll get it eventually. I love that they're both regular brushes AND intricate pen tips. It will come in handy!

Gap Nail Polish

Showing off my new "grayish lavenderish" color from Gap. The "in" color from earlier this year, apparently. :) I'm sorry I can't give you any more information on this except for the number 11005. I bought it weeks ago and it doesn't have a name! Nice color, though.

Haulin' out! - Sally Beauty Supply

Another haul because I'm so spendy lately. This one's thanks to my Sally Beauty Supply membership. I got a coupon in the mail that said if I spent $25 or more I'd get a free travel flat iron. Technically I already have a flat iron and don't even know how to use THAT one, but my sister had been wanting to try for some time so I used her as an excuse to BUY STUFF. That "buy stuff" should really be in bigger caps and larger font. Anyway, I went around Sally's with my basket and threw this stuff in. This is just the nail stuff I bought (to get to $25 I had to buy some other stuff but since it's not nail-related I thought I'd leave it out of the haul.)

Picker upper for rhinestones, Sally Girl Nail color "812031" and Nail Art clay decals #380275 Blue Denim

1. PICKerr UPerr: You might recall from my attempts at rhine-stoning that they're hard to maneuver when you're using bitty little tweezers to pick 'em up. I may or may not have mentioned that. I really can't remember. Lemme go look. Nope, didn't mention the tweezer difficulty, but here's the post where I tried some rhinestones if you're interested. 
2. Sally Girl silver sprinkles: I call them sprinkles. :) I've been wanting some silver ones for a while now but never really felt the need to go into Sally's and charge .79 cents to my credit card. I love these sprinkles. I have the gold ones and the pink ones too. It's amazing how much they help "busy up" my nails when I'm really in the mood for sparklies.
3. Nail art clay decals: These are so frickin' cute. It probably didn't help that the package is "blue denim" themed so I automatically liked the color scheme. They're so frickin' cute. It includes flowers, butterflies, hearts and feather shapes. I'm really excited to use them. My sister -- the one who loves bunnies and anything "little," really -- could barely handle how cute they are. I let her have one as a gift. It's in her wallet. :D

I be haulin' - Beauty Outlet

I am apparently not over my "it's Christmas time to spend money" bug... so that combined with my laziness equals multiple blog entries that make me look like I went on a spending spree of nail supplies. Hoorah.

I kinda went crazy at my local Beauty Outlet because their nail polish inventory has increased immensely since the last time I was there. Another thing that got me to buy stuff was that they now have a roll of scotch tape hanging by the polishes and you can use that to test out the colors. No more blind purchases. Yay!

From Left: OPI Nail Lacquer "My Private Jet"; Seche Vitte Dry Fast Top Coat; Orly "Limelite"; OPI Nail Lacquer "Ski Teal we drop"

1. OPI "My Private Jet" : Haven't used it yet but I got it because it basically dries with a really "dense" and "mineral-y" look, like a granite countertop. So cool.

2. Seche Vitte: I joined the ranks and bought a bottle of this so-called "Best top coat" from all the nail blogs I read. And I love it. It's thick but doesn't smudge my Konad nail polish and only needs one coat, versus the 2 coats I needed with my Avon top coat. Looks like I'll be changing that blog entry that says what my top and base coats always are. Oh ya and I just realized I actually bought this on eBay, not at Beauty Outlet. Yay eBay bucks that get me a free top coat that's way better than my old one.

3. Orly "Limelite": Not much to say yet, since I haven't used it. But I had never seen a shimmery color like that before so I went ahead and bought it. 

4. OPI Ski Teal We Drop: I love this blue. My sister commented last night that it looks like algae green, which is true in indoor colors. Then in daytime it's blue again. Nail polishes with color-changing-trickery are always awesome. I used this color already on my recent half-moon nails. So lovely. 

And one last thought ... am I the only one who imagines cheezburger cats saying "o rly" when I see the brand "ORLY?"

Lacey Bees and Strawberries

My sister and I were walking through San Francisco on the weekend of her marathon and found this little Japanese cosmetic place that sold makeup, hair stuff, and cutie nail stuff. I bought a sheet of strawberry/flowery/bees stickers. It was pricier than usual but worth the cuteness overload.

What I used:

• Base Coat: Avon Nail Experts Smooth Beginnings Base Coat -- 1 coat
• Nail Stamp: Konad m64 with Konad white nail polish
• Stickers: PA Nail collective Nail Sticker by Dear Laura, 0120-66-9243
• Top Coat: Avon Nail Experts UV Gloss Guard Top Coat -- 3-4 coats to keep the stickers on.

 What I learned:

• Avon top coat smears the Konad stamps if I do more than one swipe across my nail.
• I'm totally gonna do my nails like this on my wedding day. Especially since my sister goes "SHE'S GETTING MAAAARRIED" when I showed them to her. 

Space filler

Not really a space filler, but yea, a space filler. I've been busy graduating and moving out and stuff (which is a big deal in my life, but that's a story for another blog) so I haven't gotten to do my nails lately. Two weeks ago I did have white nails, though. So here they are. And Lucky, our 19 year old cat, chillin'.

New nails

My sister calls them "Tim Burton style."

They're kinda messy... I kept the sticker nails from my last blog post on for about 2 weeks (trust me, they were looking pretty ratty by the end) and apparently they dried out my fingers and nails. Had a bit of a time trying to make my nails act normal again. Note to self -- the week-long nail limit works, so don't mess with it!

I doubt these will last the whole week. The stickers are really thick so they get caught on stuff, and I've already had to trim them a little. Luckily, I won't be having an insanely busy week like I had last week anytime soon, so I'll update them if they don't stand the 7 day test.

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland, so accurately named by my sister.

Butterflies and flowers and snowflakes, because I had a magically butterfly-filled chick-flicky week leading up to Christmas this year. I'd love to dish the details, but a nail blog probably isn't the place for it... haha!

I used my new Avon Mirror Shine in "Glisten." It took two coats to get it like this, and boy are they shiny. Did you know it's difficult to photograph something super shiny with white stickers on it? Good thing I took advantage of our visit to Aveda and their salon with a billion lights. I was redeeming a birthday gift postcard for a free perfume essence in a scent of my choice. And if you must know, I got the oil in Fire Nature #20. :)

What I used:

• Base Coat and Top coat as usual, lots of top coat though
• Color: Avon Mirror Shine Nail Enamel in "Glisten" -- 2 coats.
• Stickers: Random leftover stickers from some sticker sheets in my box. Don't have the labels for them anymore.

Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Nails

School's been busy, so quick updates this week. These are the nails I brought home for Thanksgiving break. (.... last week?! CRAZY!)

Evil ghost nails

 It's amazing how fast October whizzes by. Wasn't I just saying I'm excited for having multiple weeks of Halloween Theme nails? And now November is right around the corner.

Before anything else, can I just say... I love the new topcoat I got from Avon. It's awesome and perfect.

What I used:

• Base Coat: Avon Nail Experts Smooth Beginnings Base Coat -- 2 coats
• Color on Orange Nails: 
• OPI Nail Lacquer in "In My Back Pocket" -- 3 coats, maybe? This stuff is really thin. 
•  Nicole by OPI in "Razzle Dazzler" -- 1-2 coats.
• Color on Yellow Nails: Sephora by OPI Nail Colour in "Cab Fare" -- 3 coats minimum. 
• Stickers: Professional Nail Stickers by Sinyemei. These stickers came from three different sheets (ghosts, bluish stars, white stars) I wish I could give you more info on them but they don't say much on the packaging. 
• Glitter: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in "09 Disco Ball"
• Top Coat: Avon Nail Experts UV Gloss Guard Top Coat -- 2 coats. 
• Drying Agent: Drip Dry by OPI Lacquer Drying Drops -- 1-2 Drops per nail.

These nails feel really comfortable, compare to the last few weeks. Maybe it's the way I filed them or something, but they seem much more wearable. That, and I can still use my thumbs to type on my phone without pressing down more buttons than I need to. I have the LG Xenon w/ the pull-out qwerty keyboard so sometimes square ends can really make it difficult to text...

Okay that's it for Halloween, I guess! Till next time!